CSI Pollen

“CSI pollen” is a Europe wide study of the diversity of pollen sources collected by honey bees, organised by the COLOSS honey bee research association (http://coloss.org/). It is known that the pollen of certain plant species may be deficient in certain essential nutrients and lead to stress. In order to investigate regional patterns of pollen diversity, the project will seek the help of “Citizen Scientists”, in this case volunteer beekeepers, who will collect the information. The participating beekeepers will use pollen traps fitted to their honey bee colonies to regularly collect pollen loads, and count the number of different colours present.

The aims of the study are:-

To identify regions with high or low pollen diversity

To identify seasonal changes in pollen diversity available to honey bees

To compare habitats (e.g. city vs. agricultural)

To enable beekeepers to simply compare and judge pollen diversity of different apiaries.

What does the “Citizen Scientist” need?

3 honey bee colonies (preferably static)

3 pollen traps

3 honey jars with lids

An email address and internet access

Willingness to collect and analyse pollen approximately every three weeks

Colour vision

What does the “Citizen Scientist” need to do?

1. Set up three hives with pollen traps.

2. Every three weeks collect a pollen sample from each.

3. Take a sub-sample sufficient to fill a honey jar lid.

4. Separate the loads by colour and count the number of colours present.

5. Submit the data.

A pilot project was carried out during 2013, and a report can be found here:-